


Split in Three

by ElementKitsune



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Everyone is alive though, Gen, Role Reversal, Shiro is Zarkon but in a Shiro way, vaguely horrory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-06
Updated: 2017-12-06
Packaged: 2019-02-05 21:53:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,269
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12803178
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElementKitsune/pseuds/ElementKitsune
Summary: A tale in three fragments.(or, Shiro from a hero to the ruler of the universe)





	Split in Three

**Title:** Split in Three  
**Trope Showcased:** Role Reversal  
**Author:** anonymous  
**Rating:** T  
**Content:**  Keith & Shiro, Shiro goes dark, Keith POV  
**Warnings:**  implications of dictatorship/Shiro going dark, vaguely psych horrory  
**Disclaimer:** All recognizable characters belong to Dreamworks, Netflix, the creators of Voltron, and associates. No copyright infringement intended.  
**Summary:**  

A tale in three fragments.

(or, Shiro from a hero to the ruler of the universe)

* * *

A tale in fragments.

* * *

 

The red lion is standing above him with a soul like a bonfire, and Keith maybe feels his breath catch when there’s the barest brush of a consciousness against his.

“Are you feeling it too?” Shiro asks from metres away, and Keith turns to face him; he’s smiling like a miniature sun, and the black lion quietly rumbles above him.

The moment isn’t exactly silent itself, with Lance whooping somewhere to the side and Hunk tossing Pidge in the air and Keith can  _ understand _ why they’re doing it, because there’s just something warm and safe and  _ there _ in the way that only the others had ever been.

The lions feel like home that only the paladins—well, Earth calls them paladins now—have ever been. It’s peacefulness in a way Keith can’t really describe, just feel down in his bones that he’s content and maybe this is the best he’ll ever feel. It’s  _ home _ .

Then he remembers that Shiro asked a question, and manages to pull himself away from Red long enough to answer.

“Yeah,” he says. “There’s—there’s a bond with them. I can feel Red, like, she’s in my mind and I’m in hers and we’re not really  _ there _ but it’s. It’s nice?”

Shiro laughs, soft and sweet and Shiro like his laugh rarely is.

Keith ducks his head in reply, stares at where Hunk is crushing Lance and Pidge in a bear hug and  _ oh he’s barrelling right towards them _ —

He’s the one laughing this time when Hunk scoops them up, even as Shiro makes a surprised squawking noise and Pidge’s elbows are digging uncomfortably into his ribs.

“Isn’t this amazing?” Hunk exclaims, and Lance pokes his arm even while sporting a roguish grin.

“Yeah, Blue’s just. Blue’s so Blue!” he half-sighs, half-shouts, and there’s something both funny and surprisingly relatable about the statement.

The lions are the  _ lions, _ and they’re amazing.

Of course, Keith only realizes he says that out loud when Pidge’s elbow jabs him a little more and she’s grinning up at him.

“Yeah, they’re amazing,” she agrees. “But… what are we gonna  _ do _ with them?”

When no one speaks up with any ideas, Hunk ends up dropping them all and they turn their heads towards Shiro, who just grins back.

“We’re going to save the universe,” he tells them, voice full of easy assurance.

And the thing is, they  _ believe _ him.

* * *

_ Shiro, _ Keith wants to say, except the name and all the words that are supposed to follow refuse to come out. Red is roaring outside somewhere, is sword and fire against the steady pace of Black’s attacks. He can feel her running, feel the sting of  _ why why you are  _ **_family_ ** _ please stop  _ **_why_ ** that she’s singing and he echoes, and Keith and Red are maybe one in this moment.

“Shiro,  _ why? _ ” he asks, and thinks he wants to scream, wants to rage, wants to feel anything other than cold cold cold.

Maybe he’s in the cryopod, and this is all a bad dream. Maybe Shiro had really shoved Lance, Hunk, and Pidge into cryopods, and this is reality.

Either way. Either way, Keith just wants to wake up.

And he thinks he might, really, when Shiro is open arms and his smile is as brilliant as ever, still like a megawatt sun.

Then there are arms around him and Keith knows he belongs, knows that he’ll be safe, knows that it’ll all turn out alright.

Except it doesn’t because the world turns cold and blue, inside and out (and this isn’t blue like Lance’s blue, it’s blue like stars about to explode and flames heated until they have an edge. Blue like death) and Keith only realizes that he’s in the cryopod when Shiro’s hand presses up against the glass.

“I’m going to save the universe,” says Shiro.

And the thing is, Keith thinks he believes it.

Even though Shiro—Shiro’s leaving them behind, he believes it.

(honestly, Keith’s not too sure who the  _ he _ is. Him or Shiro)

(maybe it’s both)

(but, it doesn’t really matter right now)

(not when Keith can feel himself surrendering to the blue blue cold)

* * *

Waking up from cryosleep is thawing.

It’s going from numbness to freezing, being so cold that it burns you up. Then when you’ve finally managed to get past the freeze-burn-cold, you warm and warm until you’re (not) ready to face the world around you.

Keith’s (not) ready. 

When he’s finally awake, finally able to perceive the world around him, he feels himself being held. Keith murmurs something intelligible even to himself, basks in the warmth for a moment before most of it moves away.

A whine builds low in his throat, but Keith has enough stubbornness to quash that impulse before it sounds too much. Still, he’s not fast enough after cryo-sleep, so the sound manages to escape unbidden.

That’s when he hears a laugh, soft and familiar and Shiro, and Keith looks up to see Shiro smiling down at him.

“It’s good to see you,” he says, and Keith nods first, still detached, still sleeping in the blue.

Then he  _ really _ wakes up.

“What the fuck,” he says first, remembers, remembers the world burning and Shiro pushing all of them into cryopods and Keith pushes him the fuck away. “Shiro, Shiro  _ what the fuck did you do? _ ”

Shiro just blinks instead of answering at first, so Keith moves moves  _ moves, _ tries to find Lance and Pidge and Hunk because they have to be awake, they have to be  _ alive _ — 

(oh god please let them be alive they’re his family he can’t lose anyone else)

—Red rumbles in his mind, low and threatening and not really directed towards him. The growl he catches is for Shiro, but the rumble is soothing and for Keith.

They’re alive, she tells him, through anger and a ten thousand year cold. They’re alive.

(what she doesn’t tell him, even though he can feel it like rain pelting his skin—)

(—if only Shiro wasn’t)

(he doesn’t want to know why Red is thinking that way)

(he’s not sure he wants to)

When Pidge’s cryopod refuses to open, Keith drums his hand against it, tries to hit it open until Shiro ends up reaching from behind him and opening the damn thing up. Pidge falls into his arms, small and almost fragile, even though Keith knows she’s taken down stronger than him in a heartbeat.

Then, as Pidge wakes up for  _ real, _ Keith watches Shiro take Lance and Hunk out of the cryopods, watches him gently carry them over to where Keith is holding Pidge. He squeezes her arm, and Pidge lets him, even as she draws her legs back to make room.

“What did you do?” she asks softly, softly, ever so softly. Except she isn’t looking at Shiro, and Keith follows her gaze to—

Ash.

It’s ash. Earthen…

Earthen ash.

The Earth is  _ ash _ .

Keith looks back at Shiro, even though he’s afraid, afraid, afraid in a way he shouldn’t be.

"I saved the universe," he tells them, smiling like a miniature sun. (burning and burning and burning them away)

And the thing is—

The worst thing is—

Keith knows that Shiro believes it.

 

**Author's Note:**

> This work is part of [VLD Tropes Fest](http://vldtropesfest.tumblr.com) | Comments and Kudos are appreciated | Anonymous creators will be revealed after the masterlist is posted!


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